August
8, 2004: From the point, you can look across the valley to Gooseberry
Mesa. GM is a well known, classic ride. It's much clearer marked.
There are painted blazes on the slickrock. Little Creek Mountain is
hard to navigate, but quite different in character than GM.

But
now it's noon and hot! My water is running low. I turn around and
use my GPS and the rock cairns to get back to my jeep. The heat radiates
back from the slickrock. I ration my water. It's very hot. I contemplate
hiding under a tree or rock ledge until the sun lowers. But that won't
work since I'll be dehydrating the whole time. I have to force myself
miles back to the jeep no matter what. As the miles go by (3-4), I
get to the point where I can't ride at all. Even over the easy, fun
stuff on the way out to the point. By 2 pm I only climb on my bike
when I can coast. Even pedaling on the easy, rolling rock is too much
for me.

When
I finally arrive back to my jeep, I find the thermometer says 93 degrees.
It doesn't seem like 93 should do me in so badly. But I guess it's
not so bad when just walking. Riding in that heat apparently is something
else!